Florida Tech to Host Sunshine State Conference Tennis Championships

– The 2005 Sunshine State Conference (SSC) Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships will be played Thursday, April 21, through Saturday, April 23, in
Melbourne, Fla., hosted by Florida Tech. Matches will be played at the Fee Avenue Courts and the Jimmy Moore/Sarno Road Courts in Melbourne. Sunday, April
24 is the rain date.

Men’s and women’s draws will feature some of the top NCAA Division II teams in the nation. Five of seven SSC men’s teams and five of nine SSC women’s teams
are currently ranked in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) top-40 national rankings. On the men’s side, Barry (#3), Lynn (#4), Rollins
(#6), Eckerd (#16) and Florida Southern (#23) are all nationally ranked, while in the women’s division Lynn (#4), Barry (#5), Rollins (#10), Florida
Southern (#16), Nova Southeastern (#35) and Eckerd (#38) all appear in the national poll.

In addition to men’s and women’s teams from the institutions listed above, squads from Florida Tech, Saint Leo University and the University of Tampa will
also compete for the conference championships. All seven SSC men’s teams will participate; the top eight of nine SSC women’s teams will take to the hard
courts.

Thursday’s opening-round men’s matches inlcude #2 Barry vs. #7 Saint Leo (9 a.m., Fee Ave.), #3 Rollins vs. #6 Florida Tech (12 p.m., Sarno Rd.) and #4
Eckerd vs. #5 Florida Southern (noon, Fee Ave.) Top-seeded Lynn will receive an opening-round bye.

Thursday’s opening-round women’s matches include #1 Lynn vs. #8 Saint Leo (9 a.m., Fee Ave.), #2 Barry vs. #7 Tampa (12 p.m., Fee Ave.), #3 Rollins vs. #6
Eckerd (3 p.m., Fee Ave.) and #4 Florida Southern vs. #5 Nova Southeastern (9:30 a.m., Sarno Rd).

A total of 10 SSC men currently appear in the ITA national singles rankings. Lynn’s Aivarus Balzekas (#7), Barry’s Sebastian Losavio (#11), Rollins’ Matt
Umbers (#12), Eckerd’s Sebastian Niedermayer (#14), Florida Southern’s Gaston Verna (#15), Barry’s Thomas Hipp (#17), Florida Southern’s Joey Capetillo
(#21), Lynn’s Eduardo Morones (#29), Florida Tech’s Clifford Giel (#34) and Barry’s Patrick Rittenauer (#41) were all ranked in the latest Division II
men’s top-50, released April 11.

Nine SSC women also appear in the latest ITA national singels rankings. Lynn’s Masha Bayser (#9), Barry’s Ildiko Csordas (#12), Rollins’ Tasi Purcell
(#15), Barry’s Greta Trotman (#16), Lynn’s Vici Weltz (#24), Rollins’ Marnie Mahler (#29), Nova Southeastern’s Tsippy Waterman (#30), Lynn’s Dragana Ilic
(#33) and Florida Southern’s Linda Mrkic (#40) were all ranked in the latest Division II women’s top-50, released April 11.

Among ranked doubles teams are the men’s tandems of Morones/Jan Macko of Lynn (#2), Umbers/Jonathan Gomez of Rollins (#4), Hipp/Rittenauer (#6) and
Giel/Keith Kessler of Florida Tech (#20).

On the women’s side, Bayser/Andrea Kostricova of Lynn (#5), Weltz/Ilic of Lynn (#9), Purcell/Mahler of Rollins (#11) and Trotman/Csordas of Barry (#13) are
all nationally ranked. SSC tennis teams have captured eight NCAA Division II National Championships, winning four men’s national titles and four women’s
titles.

The most recent occurred in 2001, when the Rollins men and the Lynn women each claimed their respective national crowns.